Valencia hosts Arsenal London in the second leg of the Europa League semifinals. The match will be played on Thursday, May 9th at Estadio de Mestalla (Valencia)
The Bats flew to England without Denis Cheryshev, who is an important person in the team. He picked up an injury about two weeks ago, which made him miss the rest of the season. For Arsenal’s manager, Unai Emery, the battle with Valencia is crucial because he used to work with this team. As for the current coach of the Bats, Marcelino Garcia Toral, he decided to field five defenders at once. He perfectly knew how dangerous the Gunners are at home. The coaching staff understood that the team primarily needed to defend reliably in order to have any chances against Arsenals. Nevertheless, Valencia even exceeded the task at the start of the match - in the 11th minute, Mouktar Diakhabi perfectly won the air duel with three defenders of Arsenal and sent the ball into the net. Moreover, just before the goal, Valencia could also score - Ezequiel Garay did not hit the empty net.
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Apparently, the intermediate success of Valencia only infuriated its opponents. The Gunners instantly wound up and began to gather pace. The Londoners used high pressure, and here we must pay tribute to Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil. Valencia delighted not for long - by the 25th minute, the team was already losing. It is the merit of Lacazette, who netted a brace in the opponent's net. As for the first goal, the forward successfully responded to the assist of Ozil. A few minutes later, he outplayed the defender in the penalty area very interestingly and shot past the goalkeeper. By the way, Valencia’s defender Facundo Roncaglia acted very badly in the first game. It is likely that we will not see him anymore in the return game at Mestalla. Having gained an advantage in the score, the Gunners did not even think about stopping. The minimal advantage obviously did not suit them, and besides, the Londoners understood that they were not as threatening away as at home. After the interval, Emery’s men kept on attacking. Lacazette didn’t use a fantastic attempt and missed the opportunity to score a hat-trick. If we talk about the attacks of Valencia, then they simply did not exist. The representative of LaLiga probably did not even think about the opponent’s penalty area – the Bats tried to make the score hold up at all cost. Surely, the minimum defeat suited them before the return game. Nevertheless, Valencia didn’t manage to endure quite a bit until the end - in the 90th minute, Aubameyang set the final score in the match (3: 1).
If Valencia still has any ambitions for getting into the Europa League final, a completely different game will have to be played at the home stadium in the return game. The Bats will need to press on the box of the Gunners from the opening minutes. Certainly, Arsenal won’t act as freely as in England. Of course, the Gunners will not fight back and sit on a lead; nevertheless, they will not go forward using large forces either, so as not to risk the advantage gained a week earlier. In addition, both teams probably keep in mind their performances in the national championships, where they are waging an important tournament struggle, while recently they have had problems with the results. Valencia lost to Atletico and Eibar and dropped to 6th place. Three rounds before the end of the season, the Bats lag behind the Champions League zone by only one victory, so performances in LaLiga are also very important for them. Arsenal unexpectedly lost to Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton and Leicester in a row, conceding 3 goals to each of the teams. The Gunners are fifth and are on the verge of missing the Champions League. In Spain, we will see a completely different game where the Gunners are unlikely to win.
Prediction for the match: Valencia to win
